Colorful fruit pizza features a vibrant bounty of fruit atop a soft sugar cookie crust and thick, tangy cream cheese frosting. Choose your favorite fruits to customize this classic summertime dessert!
There’s just something so summery about a fruit pizza. Maybe it’s the bright, glossy colors… or the freshness of in-season fruits and berries… or the fact that it reminds me of a sunburst or a firework exploding in the sky. If you were to ask me to recommend a dessert to bring to a summertime BBQ, fruit pizza would immediately come to mind.
The combination of a soft, buttery sugar cookie crust with tangy-sweet cream cheese frosting and colorful fresh fruit is nostalgic AND irresistible!
Here’s Why You Need to Try This Fruit Pizza
- Completely from scratch, but easy!
- Tons of texture in each bite.
- Fun to make and decorate—a great one for kids to help.
- Endlessly customizable with various fruits + berries.
- Easy to slice and serve.
- It’s visually stunning without the need for any special decorating tools or skills.
- Slightly updated recipe is better than ever!
I originally published this recipe in 2014, but I’ve made some updates to the recipe, and want to share them with you. I also filmed a new video tutorial and you can find that in the recipe below.
This recipe was good before, but I knew it could be even better.
8 Ingredient Sugar Cookie Crust
This fruit pizza’s sugar cookie crust is soft in the center with a slightly crisp edge. It’s like a thicker, larger version of classic sugar cookies.
You’ll use familiar sugar cookie ingredients: flour, sugar, butter, egg, vanilla, baking powder, and salt; plus, we’re adding cornstarch to make the cookie crust extra soft. This recipe used to call for baking soda in the cookie dough, but it really wasn’t necessary or useful, so we’re using just baking powder now. You can read about the differences on this Baking Powder vs Baking Soda page.
Success Tip: Chill the Dough for Just 20 Minutes
The easy dough comes together with a mixer. It’s quite sticky and soft because there’s so little flour, so chill it in the refrigerator for 20 minutes before pressing onto your pan. We want the sugar cookie crust to spread some in the oven, but not so much that it escapes the pan! The crust holds its shape much better if the dough is slightly cold. Then use your fingers to press the dough onto the pizza pan, shaping it into a 9–10-inch circle. (A 12-inch pizza pan works perfectly. Just make sure you aren’t using a pizza crisper pan with the little holes/air vents in it.)
Sugar Cookie Crust FAQs
- Could I use another cookie dough for the crust? Yes! You could change things up and make a chocolate chip cookie pizza as an alternative to the sugar cookie crust. I think this would be delicious with frosting + strawberries or raspberries on top. Maybe a little drizzle of melted chocolate, too? Why not!
- Can I make this without a pizza pan? Yes, you can press this crust into a 9–10-inch circle or square on a regular baking sheet or press into a 9×13-inch baking pan. You can also double the recipe for a giant 12×17-inch fruit pizza. See recipe Note.
4 Ingredient Cream Cheese Frosting
We’re using a scaled-down version of this cream cheese frosting for the pizza “sauce.” It’s smooth, creamy, and spreads with ease. You need 4 ingredients including cream cheese, butter, confectioners’ sugar, and vanilla extract. Use block-style cream cheese, not the cream cheese spread in a tub.
In the previous version of this recipe, the frosting was extremely sweet and yielded A LOT. I reduced the confectioners’ sugar from 2 cups down to 1 and 1/4 cups, and I also slightly reduced the butter. I kept the same amount of cream cheese and vanilla extract. The result is a less-cloyingly sweet frosting with just the right amount of tang to balance out the sweet crust and fruit. You could add a bit of lemon juice for a little extra zing!
Best Fruits for Fruit Pizza
I especially like to use:
- apples, nectarines or peaches (brush with a little lemon juice to prevent from browning)
- grapes (2 colors to choose from!)
- kiwi
- plums
- cantaloupe
- mangoes
- oranges (or canned mandarin slices, drained)
- pineapple
- fresh berries like blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries
Fruits to avoid: I recommend steering clear of watermelon on fruit pizza because the water content can make the pizza soggy. Banana slices are fine to use, but they brown quickly, so brush them with a little lemon juice and serve the fruit pizza right away.
Whatever fruit you use, make sure to cut it into thin, bite-size pieces. When you slice the pizza, smaller pieces of fruit hold up better and are easier to serve (and eat). Small fruits like blueberries and raspberries are great choices because you don’t have to slice or peel them. It’s a prep-work shortcut you can always appreciate in recipes like blueberry pie.
Now Let’s Decorate!
The crust + frosting is your blank canvas, and now you get to make edible artwork! Decorate your fruit pizza in colorful patterns, get creative with elaborate designs, or simply just pile the fruit on top. You can really let your—or your child’s—creativity shine.
I usually make rings with the fruits, so that when the pizza is cut, each slice contains some of each fruit. If you’re in the USA, you could use strawberries and blueberries on top of the white frosting for festive holidays like Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day.
Here are a few more fun fruit pizza design ideas:
- Make a rainbow pizza with a stripe of each color made up of 7 different fruits. You could even tint the frosting blue with gel food coloring, and add fluffy marshmallow clouds!
- Make a sunburst design using all yellow and orange fruits.
- Create a funny face or a favorite animal—a colorful butterfly would be fun to design!
- Use small cookie cutters to cut shapes out of some of the larger, sturdier fruits, like apples, cantaloupe, papaya, or kiwi. Or simply slice up some star fruit—nature’s done the shaping for you!
More Favorite Summer Desserts
- Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches
- No-Bake Cheesecake (and mini no-bake cheesecakes)
- Ice Cream Cake
- Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie
- Berry Cobbler
- Strawberry Shortcake Cake
Fruit Pizza
- Prep Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: serves 10–12 1x
- Category: Cake
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Colorful fruit pizza features a vibrant bounty of fruit atop a soft sugar cookie crust and thick, tangy cream cheese frosting. Choose your favorite fruits to customize this classic summertime dessert!
Ingredients
Sugar Cookie Crust
- 1 and 1/2 cups (188g) all-purpose flour (spoon & leveled)
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Topping
- 8 oz (224g) full-fat block-style cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 3 Tablespoons (45g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 and 1/4 cups (150g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 3 cups (about 400g) assorted sliced fresh fruit
Instructions
- Make the crust: Whisk the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl.
- In a large bowl using a handheld mixer or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on medium-high speed until combined and creamy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and beat on low speed until combined. Once completely combined, cover the dough tightly and chill in the refrigerator for 20 minutes and up to 1 day. (Let dough sit out at room temperature for 20-30 minutes if chilling longer than a couple hours because the dough will be quite stiff and flattening onto pan will be difficult.)
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease a 12-inch pizza pan with nonstick spray (even if it’s a nonstick pan). Remove chilled cookie dough from the refrigerator and press onto the pizza pan in a 9–10-inch circle, about 1/3-inch thick. Bake for 17–19 minutes or until the edges are very lightly browned. Avoid over-baking. Cool crust completely before decorating.
- Make the frosting: In a medium bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter together on medium speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the confectioners’ sugar and vanilla. Beat for 1 minute or until creamy and combined. Yields 1 and 1/2 cups (about 390g) frosting. Spread a thick layer over the cooled sugar cookie crust. Decorate with fruit.
- Cut into slices and serve. Leftovers keep well in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: Prepare the cookie crust and frosting 1 day in advance—cover each tightly and keep the cookie at room temperature and the frosting in the refrigerator. Frost and assemble the day of serving.
- Pizza Pan: Make sure you aren’t using a pizza crisper pan with the little holes/air vents in it. The pizza pan I use is this nonstick pizza pan.
- Can I make this without a pizza pan? Yes, you can press this crust into a 9–10-inch circle or square on a regular baking sheet or press into a very thin crust in a 9×13-inch baking pan. Bake time is about the same, usually a minute or two less if using a 9×13-inch pan. No need to chill the cookie dough if using a 9×13-inch pan.
- Can I make this in a half sheet/jelly roll pan? Yes, but double the crust, frosting, and fruit. Press crust into a greased 12×17-inch pan. About the same bake time. No need to chill the cookie dough if doubling and pressing into a 12×17-inch pan.
- Cornstarch: You can skip the cornstarch if you don’t have any. No need to replace with anything.
- Adding Flavor to Frosting: Feel free to add 2–3 teaspoons of fresh lemon or lime juice, plus the zest of either fruit. Alternatively, you could add 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract.
- Updated in 2022: The crust used to call for 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda (in addition to the baking powder in the recipe), but it wasn’t necessary so we no longer use it. Additionally, the frosting used to be extremely sweet and yielded a lot. I reduced the confectioners’ sugar down from 2 cups (240g) to 1 and 1/4 cups (150g). I also reduced the butter from 4 Tablespoons down to 3. The recipe above reflects these changes.
Keywords: fruit pizza
Make the fruit pizza as directed. Feel free to bake on a pizza pan or any of the alternate pans mentioned in the notes. Have fun getting creative with the fruit toppings! If you aren’t into this recipe, here is the alternate baking challenge recipe:
- Any previous challenge recipe you haven’t made yet OR
- No Bake S’mores Cake
After you make the fruit pizza or alternate recipe, email us your recipe photo. For a bonus entry, leave a review on the recipe below.
By emailing your recipe photo to us, you are automatically entered in the baking challenge. 1 winner receives a $250 Amazon Gift Card. The challenge is open to the whole world. Challenge ends on July 31st at 5pm Eastern. The winner will be selected at random, emailed the prize, and posted in the August Baking Challenge blog post on August 1st.
Visit the Sally’s Baking Challenge page if you have any questions about Sally’s Baking Challenge.
Reader Questions and Reviews
Leave a Review!
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This was very fun and easy to make! Unfortunately, keeping mine in the oven for 17 minutes was probably a little too long, as the sugar cookie “crust” was a little burnt on the perimeter and dry throughout. The frosting was nice a not-too-sweet dessert option, though!
★★★★
This was perfect and delicious! Made one for a party and it was gone within an hour. Another great recipe!
★★★★★
Delicious, as always! I didn’t have a pizza pan, so I used a 9 x 13 dish. I topped it with grapes, kiwi and mandarin oranges. Kind of a strange combination, but it was still delicious. I loved the combination of the icing with the kiwi–especially with the small amount of almond flavoring I added. This was a wonderful dessert for the Fourth of July! Thanks again for another great recipe!
★★★★★
I love love love this recipe! It’s the perfect amount of sweet and refreshing. Such a wonderful summertime dessert. Can’t wait to make it again!
★★★★★
A family favorite! I make it every 4th of July, at minimum. A dessert that’s begged for in my family, it’s that good! Gives you enough sweetness with a taste of freshness from the fruit. It really is the perfect summer treat.
★★★★★
Loved it. Easy to make. I used a brownie bites pan and did it as a “pull apart style” for quick individual servings. Topped with golden kiwi + strawberry. Will make again with other fruits. Delish.
★★★★★
The recipe was good. I’ll be honest, not a huge fan of the sugar cookie. I would have preferred the short bread cookie or maybe the chocolate chip cookie dough. I did make the mistake of baking the cookie a little too long. It didn’t look ready after 19 minutes but in reality it was. Overall, it was a good recipe. Love the icing and the idea.
★★★★
Easy to follow along, as are all of Sally’s recipes! I made the crust as directed but reduced the sugar in the cream cheese filling since the cookie was so sweet. It left just a creamy tang that balanced well with the fruit and I got several compliments from everyone at the cookout!
★★★★★
I have to start out by saying, I have always hated fruit pizza. I knew if I was going to try it again Sally wouldn’t let me down. Let me tell you, I have been the one that ate the most of it. So delicious, fresh, easy and none of that nasty red jelly. Will definitely be my go to summer dessert!
★★★★★
I only have a pizza pan that has small holes in the bottom, do you think I should use my 9×13 glass pan instead?
Yes, I recommend the glass 9×13 inch pan instead.
This is so good and so easy. My husband didn’t believe me when I said it wasn’t difficult! Making it again this weekend for a different crowd.
★★★★★
This recipe way exceeded my expectations. I am more of a chocolate fan for desserts, but this fruit pizza is an exception. The frosting is light, not too sweet, and a perfect slightly tangy compliment to the fruit. The cookie crust is also not too sweet, and stands up well to the frosting and fruit, even after being in the fridge a couple of days. If I make it again, I’d try Sally’s suggestion of adding some lemon juice/zest. And the best part, this was a fun recipe to make with my 5-year-old. She had a blast helping spread the frosting and decorating with fruit.
★★★★★
I made this today by dividing the cookie dough into 6 smaller tart shells and baking for about 14 minutes. Then used half your frosting and strawberries, blueberries and raspberries. It tastes great! Thank you!
Sally, I’m wondering can I freeze leftovers baked cookie crust (plain doesn’t have any frosting or fruit on top)?
★★★★★
Glad you loved it! You can definitely freeze the leftover plain cookie “crust” for later.
Simple and fun! Delicious cookie crust and frosting! Thanks for another great recipe!
★★★★★
It was still a little too sweet (didn’t need that much cream cheese frosting) but we had a lot of fun decorating with unique fruits!: (golden kiwis, korean melon, mango, dragonfruit, & red grapes!)
★★★★
I loved this recipe. I made it in a tart pan to get the pretty ruffled edges and it worked perfectly! I used a combo of strawberries and blueberries. This was a hit!
★★★★★
Very good! I love fruit pizza! My mom makes it using the slice n bake sugar cookie dough. Loved this recipe . I opted to add 3 t. lemon juice and some lemon zest to the “frosting”. I think I will try it next without and I think it will be a better balance of sweet to the tartness of the fruit. One thing my mom does that I really think makes a fruit pizza better is she adds an orange glaze over the top of the fruits. That’s my favorite, but fruit pizza is great any way you make it!!!
★★★★
This recipe is awesome – Everyone who tried it had good things to say. I made this in a 9-inch tart pan, so I did not chill the dough beforehand and had a thicker cookie (no spread). Since it was thicker, I added a few minutes (started with 17 minutes and then kept in the oven for +3 min at a time for a total of 23 minutes). For the ‘sauce’ I used whipped cream cheese frosting (also used in the Sunshine Citrus Cake), and topped with tropical fruits (mango, papaya, kiwi, dragonfruit) + Juneberries (aka saskatoons). My kiddo helped make the cookie base and I had a blast deciding what fruit to use and how to arrange it. It has a wonderfully summery feel to it and I will definitely make this again!
★★★★★
I made this for dessert after dinner with friends last night and it was delicious! I’m a little sad that my cookie base spread quite a bit in the oven and was overly browned at 17 minutes though. If I make this again I’ll try chilling the unbaked dough on the pan before putting it in the oven. Regardless, once the whole thing was covered in icing the overspreading didn’t matter one bit. I can see this being one of those recipes I keep up my sleeve when I need something easy and summery.
★★★★★
This was such a fun and easy recipe to make. Perfect for summer. My crust took the 17 min exactly to bake. Also added some lemon zest to the icing!
★★★★★